Shelby man taken into custody following lockout

Polk County Sheriff’s Office officials and the Nebraska State Patrol SWAT team responded to a possible suicide threat on Thursday on Pine Street in Shelby.

According to Polk County Sheriff Dwaine Ladwig, deputies were made aware of an individual inside the residence who had a shotgun and was threatening suicide. When deputies arrived at the home, they were confronted by the subject for a brief time, then the person went back into the residence. A witness inside the residence exited the home and told deputies the subject had a shotgun pointed at his face, Ladwig said in a release.

During the standoff, the streets in Shelby were barricaded and the Shelby School went on "lockout" for public safety, the sheriff noted. Lockout is a procedure designed to maintain operations as close to normal as possible until the exterior threat is removed.

A perimeter was set up around the residence, and members of the SWAT team arrived along with a negotiator. The latter made contact with the man, but the sheriff said the subject refused to surrender and come outside.

“The subject stood at the door to his residence and began to yell profanities at officers on the scene,” Ladwig said in the release, adding the person came onto the porch several times but did not comply with officers.

The subject later returned to his porch and began yelling profanities, and as a result, the decision was made to use less lethal force on the subject to prevent him from going back into the home.

Bean bags were deployed along with a K-9 and the subject was taken into custody, the sheriff said.

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